Posted 13 January 2026
Exploring how charities can bridge divides and make climate action tangible, local and inspiring.
In November 2025, COP30 saw world leaders convene in Brazil for the UN’s annual climate change conference. In the weeks leading up to this, Media Trust ran COP and Beyond: an online climate communications festival, designed to equip charities with the insights and practical skills to make the most of COP.
Three months on from our sessions with the Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit (ECIU), the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism, Climate Outreach, VideoRev and Heard, there are many lessons that still ring true.
We’ve pulled out some key insights from across the festival below, all of which we hope will help charities communicating on climate to harness momentum around global moments like COP and level-up their climate comms.
As Climate Outreach outlined in their festival session, the majority of the British public care deeply about the climate and support more action to tackle climate change. They explored their recent ‘Britain Talks Climate’ report, sharing with us that getting the story right has never been more crucial.
Heard’s session explored this further. They talked about the power of sharing vivid and compelling stories that connect to things people already care deeply about: notably family, health and wellbeing.
Linking climate to these themes, and leading with the vision rather than the problem, can transform how your communications feel and resonates. Telling stories about clean air, warm homes, thriving nature and healthy communities all act to reinforce the existing public support for taking bold action on climate change.
VideoRev’s Richard Roaf emphasised this in his session about creating compelling climate TikToks. Having a ‘hook’ in the first few seconds of your video is crucial. A compelling opening framed around breaking news, speeches from world leaders, or cultural events can capture an audience’s attention immediately.
It’s not just about the big, global moments like COP, you can make engaging content that weaves in your organisation’s climate message around stories that your audience connects with.
Dr James Painter from the ECIU reinforced the importance of clear, credible climate storytelling, particularly through trusted channels like television news, which remains a key source of information for many people.
He emphasised that while the cost of climate action is often scrutinised, the cost of inaction is far higher, and that communicating this clearly is essential to sustaining public support. Accurate and well-framed messages about the need to reach net zero is critical to cutting through misinformation and maintaining momentum for action.
Throughout the festival our speakers emphasised the importance of shifting away from fatalistic narratives to messaging that normalises everyday action and shows how change is already underway.
For Heard, normalising action is a key communication principle. When polled about their beliefs around tackling climate change, Britons who were willing to contribute 1% of their earnings to climate action were in a majority of 69%.
However, most believed that their fellow citizens weren’t willing to contribute the same. What your audience perceives as ‘normal’ matters and pivoting towards narratives that position caring about the climate as ‘the norm’ rather than the exception can reinforce existing support and spur on further action.
Climate Outreach’s ‘Britain Talks Climate’ report highlighted that a good deal of the British public is proud of nature-based climate action, like planting trees, protecting national parks, and initiatives like litter-picking and recycling.
Even if your charity doesn’t focus on natural conservation, stories that tap into the connection that many of the British public feel with their local environment can really resonate with audiences.
Heard emphasised how we need to focus on the systemic rather than the individual. For example, showing how collective action like campaigns, policy change and community projects work and make a big difference in the fight against climate change.
Similarly, audiences on TikTok connect and engage with content that encourages small, practical action. If they believe that their engagement could lead to tangible outcomes or expose an injustice, VideoRev’s research shows that online audiences are more likely to like, comment and share.
Having a narrative that inspires your audience to action means your posts are more likely to retain attention and drive engagement.
Britons who were willing to contribute 1% of their earnings to climate action were in a majority of 69%.
All our speakers emphasised the role of working with trusted messengers in building trust and connection with audiences.
Climate Outreach’s research emphasised that trust is a sliding scale. In a time of increasing distrust of politics and government, the British public are more likely to trust messengers who:
Building relationships with trusted messengers, especially those who are directly impacted by climate change, means that your audience is more likely to find your charity’s work meaningful and authentic.
Online, ensuring that you use visual cues to signal why an audience should trust you is crucial. The ECIU shared that climate misinformation can spread rapidly online and is often extremely hard to combat. As a result, audiences are increasingly sceptical of what they see online.
To counteract this mistrust, VideoRev encouraged charities to consider location and outfits when filming content. Seeing visual evidence of expertise, such as a lab, scrubs or a stethoscope can grab an audience’s attention, position your content as more trustworthy and help to cut through the noise online.
Speakers across our sessions emphasised that climate communications should translate the bigger picture of climate action into tangible, everyday benefits and a hopeful, positive vision of the future.
VideoRev encouraged charities to react to climate related news and use their platforms to celebrate successes and identify opportunities for further action. On TikTok, videos that capitalise on existing cultural moments or social media trends tend to get more traction – and in doing so can increase your audience and expand the reach of your messages.
Climate Outreach and Heard’s sessions emphasised the importance of keeping language down to earth and simple, avoiding jargon that might alienate audiences. When Climate Outreach tested the public’s understanding of different climate jargon, only 25% understood ‘climate transition’, 33% understood ‘climate justice’ and 24% understood ‘degrowth’.
This doesn’t mean that the British public doesn’t support these climate initiatives or that you should stop using them completely. But it does mean that charities must make it clear why their audience should care and how it connects to their daily life.
If you’re working with complex policy or scientific concepts, don’t rely on them to convey meaning and value by themselves. Instead, translate and emphasise the tangible benefits of your work and how it can unlock a hopeful future for Britain and the local communities your audience cares about.
When Climate Outreach tested the public’s understanding of different climate jargon, only 25% understood ‘climate transition’, 33% understood ‘climate justice’ and 24% understood ‘degrowth’.
In a landscape where climate opposition is louder and more organised than ever, charities can make climate action tangible, local and inspiring again. We can tell stories that bridge divides, take action to tackle misinformation, and invite people into a future they want to be part of.
The insights don’t stop here. Explore our Resource Hub to find more practical learnings that improve your charity’s everyday communications and help move the conversation towards something better.
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